Our system has all the things life needs, but if it had more everything could have gone wrong.
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00:00We know that our solar system is pretty special.
00:06It has everything that life needs to form.
00:08But now a new study outlines that if our solar system had just one more thing, none of this
00:12would have been possible.
00:14According to University of California Riverside astrophysicist Stephen Kane, if there were
00:18one more planet in our solar system, nothing would be the same.
00:21Apparently, if there were an additional super-Earth-sized or mini-Neptune-sized planet in the lineup,
00:27it would create what researchers call a mass gap.
00:29According to a press release from the university, Kane says that using a computer simulation,
00:33he added one of those planets to the massive space between Mars and Jupiter, and it literally
00:37threw our simulated solar system into chaos.
00:40With Kane saying in the release, quote, this fictional planet gives a nudge to Jupiter
00:44that is just enough to destabilize everything else.
00:47That nudge sent most of the planets, including Earth, careening out of their orbits and exiting
00:51the solar system altogether.
00:53Kane equates the solar system to a clock, adding, our solar system is more finely tuned
00:57than I appreciated before.
00:59Throw more gears into the mix, and it all breaks.